Monthly Archives: January 2012

JAIPUR: Non-resident Indians have hailed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s announcement that the government would allow them to vote and participate in the election process, a long-tanding demand of the diaspora.

Inaugurating the annual diaspora conclave, the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, here Sunday, the prime minister said the government has issued notifications for registration of overseas electors under the Representation of People Act, 1950, to allow NRIs to vote in Indian elections.

“It was long overdue. I am very happy with the government’s decision,” said P.V. Pillai, a delegate from Dubai.

“I laud the government’s decision to grant voting rights to non-resident Indians. Though we are a small part and we cannot change anything by voting, but still I strongly feel that right to vote is a basic right and it is a step in the right direction,” said Vasu Chanchlani from Canada.

Hiro N. Shivdasani from Ivory Coast said: “I am very happy with the decision. The Indian government has finally fulfilled its promise to Indian expatriates. It will give us an opportunity to participate in government formation.”

“I also request the government to allow dual citizenship. They should also do it soon,” he said.

However, there were a few who had apprehensions about the process.

Rajeev K. Jain, a US-based entrepreneur, said that how the NRIs will exercise the power to vote is still undecided.

“The Indian government should provide us clear guidelines on voting rights. I think that the process is still not clear. I strongly feel that the government should make it transparent and corruption free, the voting should be allowed electronically or through internet,” he said.

Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi had said that the objective was to further increase engagements with diaspora.

“Our objective is to raise the level of engagement to go beyond mere investment related issues and address a broader agenda,” he said in his address at the conclave Sunday.

Mangalore, 4 Jan, 2012 : The first Coastal Business Development Summit Organised by the state in Mangalore on Wednesday morning resulted in 38 MoUs being signed for a total Rs 1506 crores, capable of providing employment to around 4700 persons in the region.

FKCCI, KCCI, and several other departments of the state, besides NRI Forum joined hands in the meet at TV Raman Pai Convention Centre in Kodialbail. Three Congress MLAs attended for sometime.

CM DVS Gowda addressed the gathering, after inaugurating the event. He said 280 projects out of 387 for which MoUs had been signed in a Global Investors Meet in 2010, are being implemented with an investment of Rs 5 lakhs crores in all.

The state had given priority to investors, Indian or foreign. An agri-business Summit was held in Bangalore recently. Such meets raised high employment opportunities, and better farm prices.

He promised to set right DK industries in proper look-out, and make Mangalore an economic hub.

The Shiradi Ghat will be made motorable by end of this month. He wanted environment friendly enterprises in the coastal region, CM observed. Several state ministers and MP Nalinkumar were present on the occasion.

The two-day Coastal Business Development Summit, organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here, received investment proposals in the areas of hospitality, seafood processing, pharmaceutical sector, and agri-based industries in three districts of coastal Karnataka.

Summing up the two-day sessions of the summit here on Thursday, Capt Ganesh Karnik, Member of Legislative Council of Karnataka, said that 38 MoUs (memoranda of understanding) estimating an investment of around Rs 1,506 crore were signed for investments in these sectors.

These investments are likely to come into the region in the next one to two years.

Added to this, some entrepreneurs have shown interest to invest around Rs 400 crore in the business-to-business (B2B) sessions held on the sidelines of the summit.

He urged the FKCCI to initiate follow-up actions both at the investors end and at the Government end to make these investment proposals a reality.
Region-specific business development summits

Capt Karnik said that he will submit a proposal to the Government to organise such region-specific business development summits in the state, and congratulated FKCCI for initiating such a move.
SECTOR-SPECIFIC COURSES

Participating in a technical session earlier in the day, Prof G.V. Joshi, Professor of Economics at the Nitte-based Justice K.S. Hegde Institute of Management, said that the higher education institutions in the region should plan courses in tourism, infrastructure management, and food processing, as most of the investment proposals in the region are from these sectors.

Stating that many of research findings have remained at the level of higher education institutions, Prof Joshi said there should be a mechanism to transfer these research findings from the education institutions to the administrative machinery. This will help boost growth of many sectors in the region.

Dr Ramachandra Bhat, Professor at College of Fisheries, Mangalore, who participated in the technical session on fisheries sector, said that thermal power plants and rapid industrialisation are a threat to the fisheries in the coastal region.

The fisheries sector need not depend on international market for its growth as there is growth in domestic market also, he said.

However, he admitted the fact that fisheries colleges and other research institutes have failed in extension activities to boost the fisheries industry.